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Thursday, January 31, 2013

Egyptian military authorizes resumption of soccer, confrontation with ultras looms

Egypt’s military has authorized the Egyptian Football
Association (EFA) to resume league matches this weekend a year after they were
suspended in the wake of a politically loaded brawl that left 74 soccer fans
dead.

The move a day after Defense Minister and armed forces
commander Gen. Abdel Fattah El Sissi warned of a potential “collapse of the
state” signals the military’s expanding involvement in Egypt’s worsening crisis
and threatens to pit it against militant soccer fans or ultras who hold it
co-responsible for the worst incident in Egyptian sports history.

The emergence of the Black Bloc, a group of battle-hardened
militant soccer fans or ultras dressed in black with their faces hidden behind
black mask that has intervened in recent days to protect protesters against the
security forces and what they describe as Muslim Brotherhood thugs, adds to the
powder keg. A militant Islamist group has already asserted that Black Bloc
members should be killed.

It was not immediately clear what motivated the military to
assume a responsibility of the interior ministry whose police and security
forces are preoccupied with quelling protests against the government of
President Mohammed Morsi by authorizing the resumption of soccer.

Analysts are divided about whether it constitutes an
ill-conceived attempt to maintain a façade of normalcy and demonstrate that the
military and the security forces can secure Egypt’s streets or the creation of
an opportunity to crack down on militant, highly politicized, well-organized
and street battle experience fan groups as well as others that may be
organizing themselves as militias or vigilantes. In doing so, the military
would be tapping into a yearning among a majority of protest-weary Egyptians
who yearn for a return to normalcy.

The government and the EFA have been further under pressure
from clubs and players to lift the suspension of soccer that has hit them hard
financially and undermined player morale.

Ultras, 21 of which were sentenced to death last weekend on
charges of responsibility for the deaths in Port Said, play an important part
in the anti-Morsi protests. Their relationship with the military soured in the
last two years after their key role in the toppling two years ago of President
Hosni Mubarak because of their militant opposition to military rule that led
Egypt from the rule of Mr. Mubarak to that of Mr. Morsi and their growing
rejection of the Muslim Brotherhood leader’s government.

The resumption of professional soccer in the midst of a
political crisis that has erupted on the streets of Egyptian cities constitutes
a rejection of the ultras’ insistence that matches only be restarted once
justice has been served in the Port Said case and their insistence that fans in
contradictions to the military-endorsed terms of the interior ministry be
allowed to attend matches.

The 21 condemned to death row, supporters of Port Said’s Al
Masri SC, were among 73 people, including nine mid-level security officials on
trial for the death of primarily supporters of crowned Cairo club Al Ahli SC at
the end of a match between the two in the Suez Canal city. The verdict has
reinforced widespread discontent on both sides of the soccer divide and across
Egypt.

In Port Said it reinforced a sense that the city was being
scapegoated for an incident that constituted an attempt that got out of hand to
reign in militant soccer fans. Al Ahli militants share Port Said's perception that the incident in their city was not spontaneous or coincidental..

The court’s delay until March 9 of the sentencing of the remaining 52
defendants, including the security officials, as well as the fact that it has
yet to address the question of who was really responsible for the incident
spoke directly to one of the issues fueling the anti-Morsi campaign: the fact
that virtually no one has been held accountable until now for the deaths of
more than 800 protesters since the revolt against Mr. Mubarak erupted.

The government and the EFA have failed on several occasions
in the past six months to lift the suspension of soccer. The interior ministry
and the ultras both opposed it for different reasons. The ministry long wanted
to avoid renewed street battles with the ultras in a bid to shore up the
tarnished image of its police and security forces who are despised as the
repressive arm of the Mubarak regime and are now seen by the ultras and others
as the enforcers of the new Mubarak, Mr. Morsi.

Mr. Morsi ordered on Wednesday the shortening of curfews in
three Suez Canal cities – Port Said, Suez and Ismailia – amid so far unsuccessful
attempts to engage the opposition in dialogue. The military’s authorization of
the resumption of soccer authorization of the resumption of soccer, consistent
with the misreading of the public mood by the armed forces, threatens to
complicate the president’s efforts and fails to address the issues underlying
the protests in Egypt – a cry for justice, greater transparency and
inclusivity, reform of Mubarak era state institutions first and foremost among
which the police and security forces, and recovery of an economy in decline.

To ensure security and minimize the risk of confrontation, the
defense ministry said in a statement quoted by Al Ahram Online that the first
half of the resumed league would be played in military stadiums. The ministry
said further that matches scheduled to be played in Suez Canal and Red Sea
cities would be hosted elsewhere. Al Masri moreover bowed to pressure to
abstain itself from the initial league season to avoid increased tension. The
military aware of the evocative power of soccer owns several soccer clubs and
military-owned construction companies have built a number of Egypt’s stadiums.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam
School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s
Institute for Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East
Soccer blog.

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About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile